Monday, January 6, 2014

Put Induction Friendly Tortillas Back On The Menu - Atkins Induction Day 5

Coconut Pumpkin Tortillas are Induction-friendly

Sundays in our house always come with a big breakfast or brunch and endless hot cups of coffee. It’s our time to leisurely decompress and enjoy visiting with each other, having amazing coffee and delicious food. There is no diet mentality, not even when we’re doing Atkins Induction. Not at brunch nor any meal. Deprivation optional is our philosophy.
One of the things that work for us is treating our eating plan just like normal eating. For instance, I want to pick a taco up with my hands, eat a burger in a bun with my hands--not cut everything with a knife and fork. The familiar behaviors of interacting with food have a great deal of pleasure and reward inherent in the experience. Sure it is a diet. But dieting isn’t a bad thing. Taking control of your nutrition doesn’t have to be an onerous task. It can even bring out your creativity and spur you into trying new things—new foods and recipes.

Pumpkin is a foundation vegetable.

I’ve been wanting to make a really good Induction-friendly tortilla for a long time. And after reading in NAME (New Atkins Made Easy), that pumpkin is now considered a foundation veggie (foundation veggies should make up 12-15g of your daily 20g net carbohydrate budget), I knew success would be easier.

These Coconut Pumpkin Tortillas don’t taste like pumpkin, just a neutral delivery system for wraps, tacos, enchiladas and tostadas of all persuasions. Being raised on Tex-Mex, having this type of food where I know every ingredient is important to make Induction “normal.” You may not want to cook everything from scratch, and can enjoy the convenience of pre-made tortillas. But for those of us who enjoy cooking, this will be another tool in the low carb toolkit. I can keep these made up or even make and freeze them, then have them ready at all times. They’re only 2g net carbohydrates each, they’re flexible, and come together quickly. And the only drawback is that they don’t function well with wet filling. I’m still working on that part.

Hi Raven, glad to hear from you. I will try to fill you in on my life, since it's apparent you are not familiar with what's going on. And I will try to be pleasant and not respond defensively to the criticism I "feel" in your salutation to me of "still no recipe"?

I've been sick since the week before Christmas with one infection or another. Through that time, I've still managed (barely) to do the weekly postings, but it hasn't left me much energy to post on "catch-up" threads such as this. You may be unaware that I'm just this year surviving a late stage cancer. I either just broke a rib or I have a possible cancer metastasis in my rib (where it was right under the primary tumor). I just had an MRI and next week I have a bone scan, then visits with my oncologist and my lymphedema specialist to evaluate how big my arm has gotten since the arm infection at Christmas.

So, as you can see the reason I haven't gotten the Atkins Induction Recipe Book out, is a bit complicated by health and not because I'm a slacker who doesn't care about my readers' needs. Here is the recipe as written. I still want to test it by adding a) 1 tbsp of psyllium husks and b) Adding 2 teaspoons of unflavored gelatin and 2 teaspoons of powdered egg whites (Deb El Brand is what I use.)

1. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl and stir well to combine. Mix wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Add dry ingredients into wet ingredients. Stir with a spatula until well combined.

2. Let batter rest for 5 minutes. It should be about the thickness of a thicker cornbread batter. If it's too thick, add more egg wihites. Do not add water.

3. Spoon 2-3 tablespoons of batter onto a 8-in square parchment paper. Using an offset spatula or straight knife, smooth batter into a thin circle about 6-inches in diameter. Microwave on high for 45 seconds. Remove parchment sheet from microwave and place in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Place tortilla parchment paper side down into the skillet. Cook for 15 seconds. Flip tortilla and remove paper. Cook for 15 seconds per side until both sides have brown spots -- about 45 seconds to 1 minute each. Remove tortilla from skillet and place in a covered casserole or plastic bag to steam and cool. This steaming and cooling helps make the tortilla pliable and stronger.

4. If desired, melba toast tortillas on a baking sheet in a preheated 250 oven until tortillas are crisp throughout. Use for tostadas or break-up into tortilla chips.

Notes: These Induction-friendly tortillas work to help make Induction a deprivation-free experience. The one enemy of these 1g Net Carb tortillas (when using 2 tablespoons of batter instead of 3 tablespoons) is liquid. If your filling is very moist, the tortilla will become too fragile to pick up with your hands. They do not taste like pumpkin, simply a neutral "innard-delivery-system."

Serving Ideas: Serve with your favorite filling, or use as tortilla chips.